"Both Manu and Heraclitus are true together; taken separately they both are false. Life is a contradiction. Life is paradoxical. That's why it is so charming and so beautiful. It exists through opposites. It is vast, it contains contradictions. It is new and old both. It is life and death both, together. So I say to you I will sing the same old song and yet it is not going to be the same. Listen attentively.

"Before we enter into the words of the mystic poet Kabir, it will be good to know something about Kabir. Much is not known, fortunately, because when you know too much about the person, it creates more complexities in understanding him. When you don't know anything about the person himself, then there is less complexity. That's why in the East it has been one of the most cherished old traditions not to say much about the mystics, so that it never hinders people. We don't know much about Krishna and we don't know much about Buddha; or all that we know about them is more mythological than historical – not true, fictitious. But about Kabir, even fiction does not exist. And he is not very ancient, yet he lived in such a way that he has effaced himself completely. He has not left any marks.

"Only politicians leave marks on time, only politicians are that foolish. The mystics live in the timeless. They don't leave any marks in time, they don't leave any signatures on time. They don't believe in signing on the sands of time. They know it will be effaced so there is no point in it.

"Kabir has not said much about himself, nothing much is known about him. Not even this much is known – whether he was a Hindu or a Mohammedan. The story goes that he was born a Mohammedan but was brought up by a Hindu. And this is beautiful, this is how it should be. Hence his richness. He has the heritage of two rich traditions: Hindu and Mohammedan. If you are just a Hindu, of course, you are poor. If you are just a Mohammedan you are poor.

"Look at my richness."